Popular Nostalgia

T.V. shows we remember fondly. A Popular Nostalgia staple.

Presented by that-guy-off-Red-Dwarf, Craig Charles. Robot Wars was the arena for robots to do their best to try and blow each other up on TV. Especially funny when they tried to interview the uber-geeks backstage who would mumble and blurt out inappriopriate comments. The show’s own master robots sometimes came to a grisly end of [...]

Mr Motivator WAS the 1990s. He carried off three horrendous looks in one go: The Bum Bag – rarely was Mr Motivator ever without his precious bum bag. The Leotard – something which should never be seen on a male, out of athletics, he somehow managed to get away with it. In bright colours. Before [...]

“I’ll have a ‘P’ please, Bob!” “I’ll have an ‘E’ please, Bob!” Oh, how we laughed. Seriously, though, Blockbusters was great TV. Students would play for weeks, in pairs, or solo, and would always be accompanied by a furry mascot, eventually, they would win a budget prize, like a “Steam Iron” or a trip to [...]

Remember being scared of the big bad wolf? Did you want to date /look like Jet? Remember when Shadow got done for using steroids? and the wonder of people fighting with giant cotton buds on elevated platforms? Gladiators was a phenomenon of family viewing. Everyone knew someone who’s teacher’s friend’s brother’s babysitter had been a [...]

Wayne’s World was a movie phenomenon in the league of Ferris Beuler’s Day Out, Grease, Dirty Dancing and all the other coming-of-age-films. Except Wayne’s World was cooler. I once gave myself whiplash trying to re-enact Garth’s blonde head-banging to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. This film is single-handedly responsible for a whole generation ending every sarcastic [...]

In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn’t commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else [...]

In true BBC style, Michael Fish urges a stiff upper lip and insists that there is nothing to worry about. Devastation ensues. The news the next day: Unfortunately for Michael Fish, this one clip then followed him for the rest of his career but a little research reveals that he was, in fact, misreported: “My [...]

Last night on “Enough Rope”, Robson Green was being interviewed and in the course of the programme, a clip was shown of his performance of “Unchained Melody” on Top of the Pops. The memories and the cringing came flooding back as I recalled how that hideous, smarmy song never went away after weeks at the [...]

“Go-go-gadget legs!” Inspector Gadget was a buffoonish policeman who had a whole host of gadgets, most of which consisted of making his legs or arms extend. He also had helicopter style rotor-blades which came out of the top of his head. Most of the crimes which Inspector Gadget ‘investigated’ – his missions – were given [...]

For a decade between the mid 80s and 90s, children were inspired to take up painting and other forms of art by the spectacularly talented Tony Hart, on his TV show Hartbeat (not to be confused with the ITV 1960s stlye police drama Heartbeat!). Hartbeat also brought us the great character of morph, and also [...]

Bitsa this!  Bitsa that! Put them all together, and what have you got? Bits and pieces, bits and bobs, Put them all together, what a wonderful job! A great theme tune for a great program. Good children’s TV, before they made everything all colourful on SMart, which featured liberal use of a glue gun, and [...]

Around the World With Willy Fog was shown on children’s BBC in the UK during my childhood. It was a cartoon based on the Jules Verne novel “Around the World in 80 Days” except that all the characters were animals and the main protagonist’s name was changed from Phileous to Willy, and he was a [...]

When the Big Breakfast first started, I didn’t really like it. Perhaps I was too young? Perhaps Chris Evans was just a bit of a nobhead? I don’t know, however, when Jonny Vaughan and Denise Van Outen took over, the Big Breakfast became great. For a couple of brief years, most people were united in [...]

A few years back, on ITV, This Morning was presented by Richard Madely and Judy Finnegan. Richard managed to put his foot in his mouth on a few occasions and Judy always looked apologetic, which is perhaps why they entered the British nations heart. At the height of their hold over the public, they attended [...]

Jonny Briggs was another great children’s TV series that came from the mid 1980s – 1985 to be precise. How I can remember it must be testament either to it being particularly memorable, or the fact that it was repeated several times on children’s BBC. The story was based around the life of one Jonny [...]